Free again, but the last few days have been a mix of conditions. We were beginning to be really anxious to get out of Miami and back on the water. Yurik and the staff at Nordic were great, they did everything they could to get the mast back up, wiring completed so we could depart. Finally the day came and we left the Miami River, going "outbound" through all the bridges. The river has huge cargo ships and tugs going in and out. It is an amazing feat watching them, with the tugs struggling to turn the monstrous container ships through a winding narrow channel. So as we depart, in comes one, we shared the river for a port to port pass, anxious but reassured by the tug captain on the radio... as we pass, the bright side by radio..."we really envy you guys heading out for the islands, enjoy your cruise", after a few exchanges we say goodbye with the last three bridge tenders by radio "sailboat outbound", what a great sound.

So lets start the Good:
Upon exiting the river to Biscayne Bay we stopped for fuel and a pump out. After that, our first day was near perfect. Wind out of the east, sails went up and engine off to a glorious sail all the way down Biscayne Bay into the Keys. We past 404 and FX International races with Spain and Brazil racing behind us toward a finish. We both smiled, so happy to be back on the water, and under full sail on a beautiful day with the sun popping out from clouds around noon. It just doesn't get much better. We continued into the Keys and an anchorage at Backwater Bay off Key Largo.

A little of the Bad:
Weather on the outside has been rough with high winds and rough seas so we decided to take the back channel on the Florida Bank. It is challenging and shallow, in many cases very narrow dredged passages. It is particularly difficult for deep draft boats, and although we only draft 5 ft, there are still areas where we have to use the tides to get through. We departed from Key Largo with high tide to make it through shallow areas and Steamboat passage with high water, bound for Long Key and anchorage at the old Yacht Channel north near Channel 5. Most of the 30 plus miles traveled that day were too narrow to even get sails up so we motor sailed all day with just the jib flying.

And a little of the Ugly:
We went aground in sand at 4.5 ft near Cowpens Pass, right in the middle of the channel, but managed to power through it. Then in 6 ft of water our keel bounced of rocks on the bottom. The last five miles were riddled with crab pots, they were so thick we had to keep one of us on the bow to direct as we weaved our way through them.

Finally, we arrived at Long Key and our planned anchorage. The location is right next to the branch heading north on the Yacht Channel and although a short day, only about 33 miles, we were tired and ready to anchor for the night. Still fighting crab pots, we found a nice square and anchored with crab pots on four corners around us. The anchorage is lovely, only two other boats there, but to exhausted from the difficult day to enjoy it.

North on the Yacht Channel to Marco Island:
With about 90 miles to go, we decided to do an overnight north to Marco Island. Our big concern was sailing at night with crab pots, so we hoped they would die off a bit north. Not a chance !
The heavy crab pots started immediately and continued all day. After a unique "S" curve in the channel, we decided to move further west into the Gulf and deeper water to get out of the crab pots, otherwise we considered anchoring on the bank to move forward only with daylight. About 8 miles out in 30-40 ft of water it seemed the crab pots stopped. Engine off and full sails up we continued north with deep water to Marco, we enjoyed a lovely night, Venus on the horizon, shooting stars and just the sound of the wind. We pulled into Marco Island to anchor at Factory Bay, relax and sleep much of the day.